Andrew dougherty



unrrun earns rnnr ion.

ANDREW' DOUGHERTY, OliV` NEV YGRK, N. Y.

MACHINE FOR DAMPENING PAPER.

Specification of Letters'latent No. 32,759-, dated July 9, 1861.

To all whom t may concern.'

Be it known that I, ANDREW Donor-mirri?, of the city, county, and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Machines for Dampening Paper for Printers Use, Some of which are Applicable to other Purposes, and that the ,following is a full, clear, and exact description of-my said invention, reference being had to the accompanying drawing, in whichW Figure l represents a side elevation of a machine for dampening rolled paper according to my invention, Fig. 2 represents a plan of the saine, Fig. 23 represents a vertical longitudinal section of the same with red lines to represent paper in process of being dampened, and Fig. l represents a plan of one of the roll shafts and its appertenances.

Paper is found in the market in two forms, viz., sheets and rolls. No diiliculty has been experienced in dampening sheets of paper equably, either by hand or by machinery; but, so far as my knowledge extends, no el'licient means has yet been discovered of dampening dry rolled paper equably and rerolling it solidly and without wrinkles in a dampened state, so that it can be used for continuous printing, although many attempts have been made to accomplish this result. l have succeeded in accomplishing this result, and my invention for the purpose divided into parts, some of which are applicable for other purposes, and the irst of which has reference to the maintenance of an equal tension upon paper while it is being unwound by drawing it off from a roll. its the paper is drawn off from the roll the latter becomes smaller in diameter, hence if a brake be applied (as has heretofore been attempted) to a pulley of fixed size secured to or connected with a shaft on which the roll of paper is mounted, it would be necessary to reduce the pressure of the brake in proportion to the progressive diminution in the diameter of". the roll as the paper was drawn off and the reduction would have to be made with great nicety to maintain an equable tension upon the paper. his part of my invention obviates any necessity for such change in the pressure of the brake, and at the same time maintains an equable tension upon the paper until it is entirely unwound, whether the original roll be lai ge or small. lt consists in combining a friction brake with the shaft (or other means of supporting the roll of paper to be unwound) in such manner that the tension is applied to the surface of the paper however the roll of paper may vary in diameter, hence the tension upon the unwound portion is substantially the same at` all times.

The obj ect of the second part of my-invenw tion is to prevent the coclling or wrinlrli-ng of the paper, after it is drawn from the roll, during the performance of some further operation upon it. From imperfections in the operation of rolling up paper at paper factories, the opposite edges of short lengths of the sheet given oft by a partial turn of the roll are frequently of unequal length; hence if the paper be printed, or have some other operation performed upon it, as it unwinds from the roll, its surface will be wrinkled, or it will tend to work edgewise, or both of these effects will take place; as however the total lengt-hs of the opposite sides of the sheet are substantially the same, a short portion of it which is shorter at the rightedge than at the left edge is succeeded by a portion which is longer at the right edge than atthe left. This second part of my invention permits the differences in the lengths of the edges of consecutive short portions of the sheet to neutralize each other after they are unwound from the roll; and-.it consists in combining with the shaft (or other means that supports the roll of paper) an equalizing apparatus, consisting of a pair of rollers or their equivalents over which t-he paper is strained after it leaves the roll, the equalizing apparatus being located at a sutlicient distance from the shaft or its equivalent that supports the roll of paper to permit a portion of the sheet to extend between the equalizing apparatus and that shaft.

The object of the third part of my invention is to apply to the paper the proper quantity of liquid required to dampen it equably. Previous to my invention attempts had been made to dampen card board by passing it between a pair of rollers or cylinders, the lower of which had an impervious surface and dipped in water contained in a vat beneath it. This apparatus was defective in its operation because the dampening liquid was carried to the card board merely by its friction upon the impervious surface of the lower roller; no means was provided for regulating the quantity of water taken up by the roller, and any variation in the speed varied the quantity applied to the card board. Such an apparatus is' practically incapable of dampening paper uniformly, because from the impossibility of regulating the quantity of liquid the paper would be flooded therewith. This portion of my invention requires the employment of cylinders or their equivalents (between two of which the paper is passed) and a vat or other means of supplying the dampening liquid, but my invention differs from the machine above referred to in this, that the dampening cylinder has a porous surface capable of absorbing the liquid and giving it out to the paper by pressure, vand that means are provided for regulating the quantity of liquid with which the porous surface of the dampening roller is charged, so that the quantity of liquid applied to the paper is not dependent upon its friction upon an impervious surface nor upon the speed at which the apparatus is driven. rThis part of my invention consists of a combination of rollers, or revolving cylinders, or their equivalents having porous surfaces with a vat or other suitable means of supplying liquid, the combination being such that the quantity of liquid with which the porous surface of one of the rollers is charged is regulated by pressure, and that this liquid is applied to the paper by pressing` the paper in close contact with the wet roll as it revolves.

The object of the fourth part of my invention is to roll up paper without material cockling or sagging. It has been customary heretofore to wind paper by imparting power to the shaft upon which the 4paper is wound, and to decrease the speed of the shaft as the roll of paper increases in diameter, so that the periphery of the roll where the paper is 'being wound may move with approximately equal speed. This decrease has been effected either by means of cone pulleys to which the driving belt has been applied and along which it has been shifted to vary the speed of the shaft of the driving pulley, or it has been permitted by making the tension of the driving belt so slack that it would slip upon the driven pulley. Both of these plans are objectionable, the former on account of its complication and the difliculty of adjusting it with sufficient ni'cety; and the latter because the power required to turn the shaft increases as the roll of paper increases in diameter, hence, if the belt be slack enough at the commencement of the rolling up, it is too slack to roll the paper tightly when the roll becomes larger. This portion of my invention consists in a combination of mechanism by means of which the power is applied to the periphery of the roll of paper, and the first plan that occurred to me was to cause the roll of paper to revolve by the friction of a cylinder or roller that was pressed in contact with it. Experience however has demonstrated that the paper becomes damper at its edges than at the center of the sheet and that it can not be practically wound without cockling by the friction of a perfectly cylindrical roller upon the periphery of the roll of paper. have found however that if the barrel of the friction roller be concave, by which I mean smaller in diameter at its middle than toward its ends, or if the roll of paper be pressed by such a roller while motion is imparted to it by means of a cylindrical roller, the cockling is prevented. This part of my invention therefore consists in the combination of a concave friction roller or its equivalent with a shaft or other means of supplying the roll of paper, and with guides that maintain the axis of the roll shaft and friction roller in the same plane while permitting the two to separate as the roll of paper increases in diameter. By this mechanism the power is applied to the surface of the roll of paper, and hence the speed at which the sheet is rolled up is always the same however the roll of paper may vary in diameter.

The fifth part of my invention consists in the combination of the first, second, and third parts thereof before mentioned, the whole constituting a machine for dampening paper from the roll and delivering it in a dampened condition.

The sixth part of my invention consists in the combination of the first, second, third, and fourth parts thereof, the whole constituting a machine for dampening paper from the roll and rerolling it while damp, so as to produce a damp roll of paper suitable for continuous printing by a revolving cylinder carrying types.

The accompanying drawing represents a machine constructed by me for dampening paper from the roll and rerolling it solidly while damp. The various moving members of this machine are supported by a strong frame A which carries the vat B, in which t-he dampening liquid is contained. Two standards, C, C, are located at one end of this frame to hold the boxes in which the shaft e, that carries the roll of paper to be dampened, revolves. These standards also guide the friction brake D which consists in this instance of a block of wood rounded and made smooth at its lower side to bear upon the roll of paper, and of a table f upon which weights may e placed to increase, if necessary, the friction produced by the rubbing of the lower surface of the block upon the periphery of the roll of paper supported upon the shaft beneath it. The standards permit the brake to descend as the roll decreases in size by the drawing o of the paper, so that the surface of the brake is always bearing upon t-he periphery from which the paper isbeing unwound with equal fo-rce, and consequently the tension upon the unwound paper is uniform. The roll of paper to be unwound may be applied directly to the shaft c, or to any equivalent means that will hold'it in its position under the friction brake and permit it to turn; but I prefer to have the paper rolled up upon a tube 0 at the paper factory, so that the shaft e may be inserted through this tube as shown in section in the drawing at Fig. 3. After the paper is drawn from the roll it passes to the equalizing` apparatus. This consists in this instance of a pair of small rollers g g, whose journals turn freely in standards H H, secured to the f 'ame of the machine at a short distance from the standards that hold the boxes of the roll shaft c. The barrels of the equalizing rollers do not touch each other, they are parallel with each other and with the roll shaft e upon which the roll of paper is sustained. The paper is passed in opposite directions around their barrels; and l have found by experiment that if the barrels be located at a distance of from one to two feet from the periphery of the largest rolls of paper to be unwound that distance is sufficient to permit the unwound portion to become practically equal in length at its two edges before it leaves the equalizing apparatus to be subjected to a further operation.

The dampening mechanism is located at the middle of the frame and consists in this instance of three cylinders 7i; 7c 7a2 arranged one above the other. Each of these cylinders is covered with a jacket of felt, such as is used to cover cylinders used in paper machines; the barrel of the lowermost cylinder projects down into the vat B in which the dampening liquid is contained. The barrel of the middle cylinder (c) bears upon the lowest, and the barrel of the highest cylinder bears upon the middle cylinder. The journals of the lowermost cylinder turn freely in stationary boxes; the journals of the upper two turn freely in boxes that are fitted to slide vertically in standards I, and the boxes of the uppermost cylinder are weighted by means of a pair of weights j j, notched levers m m, and pistons z' z', so that the force with which the middle cylinder is borne upon the lowermost one may be increased or decreased as found expedient by shiftingl the weights along the levers. From this arrangement and construction of the dampening mechanism it results, that, when the cylinders are turned, the jacket of the lowermost one, turning` in the liquid in the vat, becomes saturated with the liquid and carries it to the jacket of the middle cylinder. The quantity of liquid which the jacket of the middle cylinder can Atake from the lowermost one depends upon the pressure of the one against the other, more or less of the liquid being. squeezed out of the acket of the lower by this pressure, and the remainder being divided between the jackets of the two as in turning' their peripheries leave the line of pressure. The quantity of liquid absorbed by the jacket of the middle cylinder is thus within the control of the attendant, who by varying the pressure (by shifting the weights y'- -j-) can adjust the quantity as desired. The paper is conducted between the barrels of the uppertwo cylinders so that as they turn, the wet jacket of thl lowerl cylinder is pressed into close contact with the paper, thereby dampening it with the regulated quantity of liquid. It is advantageous in practice touse hollow cylinders and to perforate their barrels at short intervals with fine holes, so as to permit any liquid that would otherwise accumulate under the jacket to escape, and thus prevent the formation of blisters in the jacket. After the paper has left the dampening mechanism it is rerolled in the present machine. This is accomplished therein by a friction roller L and a roll shaft c. The former is caused to revolve in a proper direction to roll up the paper upon the roll shaft e. rlhe journals of the roll shaft are received in movable boxes n, which slide in standards P, so that the periphery of the roll of paper as it increases in size always bears upon the barrel of the friction roller, and consequently the speed at which the periphery of the roll of paper is turned is always the same however the roll may vary in size. in iractice I find it expedient to reroll the paper upon a tube s, which is of the same length as the width of the paper, or but little longer, and this tube is supported upon the roll shaft as shown in section at Fig. 3,. When the roll is completed the shaft is drawn out of the tube, leaving the latter in the roll, and this isA convenient as the tube with the roll of paper upon it may then be fitted upon the shaft of a printing press or other machine in which the paper is to be operated upon.

In the present machine the level of the top of the barrel of the friction roller L is below that of the paper as it leaves the dampening mechanism, and as it is advantageous that the paper should leave the dampening cylinders horizontally, l have located a pair of rollers, t t, between the dampening cylinders and the rolling-up apparatus. These rollers turn freely upon their journals by the movement of the paper; they change its direction and prevent it from sagging by its own weight. TWhen the rolling apparatus is at a distance from the dampening mechanism it is expedient to support the damp paper by such rollers or by other free turning` rollers to prevent the sagging of the paper by its own weight.

In order to insure the rolling of the paper without cockling or wrinkling, the barrel of the friction roller L is made smaller in diameter at its middle than at the extremities thereof which come in contact with the edges of the paper. l have found that if the middle of the roller be of an inch smaller in diameter than the extremities, that is sufficient for the purpose. Or a concave barreled pressure roller R may be located above the roll shaft e in such manner that its barrel bears constantly upon the periphery of the roll of paper. The journals of this pressure roller should turn freely in the standards P P and be guided by them so that the barrel of the pressure roller will bear throughout its whole length upon the roll of paper. if the concave pressure roller be used, the barrel of the friction roller may be made cylindrical; but the best effect will be produced by making the friction roller concave whether the pressure rollerbe used or not.

In order to put the machine thus described into operation a roll of paper is applied to the shaft e and the friction brake D is permitted to bear upon its periphery; the end of the sheet is conducted around the equalizing rollers g g, as shown in Fig. 3, and is then passed between the upper two cylinders 7c, 7c of the dampening mechanism. It is then passed to the shaft or tube of the rolling apparatus and is wound thereon. rPhe vat is filled with the dampening liquid and the dampening` cylinders 7c 7a2 and friction roller L are caused to turn in the direction shown by the arrows applied thereto in the drawing, by the application of power. Power is most readily applied to the members of the present machine by means of driving belt fitting upon a fast pulley u secured to the end of the lowermost cylinder of the dampening mechanism. Power is transmitted from this cylinder to the middle cylinder by means of a belt r and pulleys o o', or by mea-ns of toothed pinions, the pulleys or pinions being so proportioned that the peripheries of the two cylinders revolve with equal speed. Power is transmitted from the cylinder 702 to the friction roller L of the rolling apparatus by means of a belt a encircling pulleys secured to the ends of the respective cylinders.

Paper when it is dampened increases in length, hence it is necessary to cause the periphery of the friction roller L to move a little faster than those of the dampening cylinders in order to roll the paper tightly. lf it be made to turn slightly faster than is sufficient to compensate the increase in length by dampening no injurious result ensues as the periphery of the roll of paper will then slip upon that of the friction roller. In practice I have found that the periphery of the friction roller may travel at the rate of 12ginches for each 12 inches vof travel of the peripheries of the dampenmg rollers with linen paper weighing thirty five lbs. per ream, (22x28 in.,) and this difference between the two speeds may be increased or decreased according' to variations in the quality of the paper.

In order to keep the tubes in their proper positions on the shafts c and e ianged sleeves .e a are applied to the shafts, to fill up the spaces between the ends of the tubes and the boxes in which the journals of the shafts turn, as shown at Fig. 4; a loose pul ley fu is provided to receive the driving belt when the machine is to be stopped.

I have driven a machine constructed like that shown in the drawing so that it dampened the paper at a speed of thirty feet per second, and so far as I can perceive it may be driven much more rapidly.

The construction of the machine may be varied according to circumstances or to meet the views of manufacturers or users of the parts or whole of my invention. Thus for example stationary bars may be used in place of the freely turning rollers of the equalizing apparatus, and as such bars will impart considerable tension to the paper, the tension produced by the brake at the roll shaft may be diminished by lightening the pressure upon the roll of paper. So also the dampening liquid may be spurted upon the dampening mechanism from a series of orifices in a pipe, and the vat be used merely to catch any excess, in place of arranging the lowermost roller to dip into the liquid in the vat. So also paper from two rolls may be passed through the dampening mechanism simultaneously, additional means being added to support and roll up the paper from the second roll; and if deemed necessary the cylinder above the paper may have the dampening liquid applied to its jacket by means of a series of jacketed cylinders the last of which dips in a vat of liquid or has liquid supplied to it.

It is obvious that radius bars may be used in place of guides to maintain the friction brake in its position upon the roll of paper, and also to hold the roll of paper upon the friction roller.

What I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent isl. The combination of a friction brake with means substantially as described for supporting a roll of paper, in such manner that the tension is applied to the periphery of the roll of paper substantially as set forti 2. The combination of a shaft that supports the roll of paper to be unrolled with an equalizing apparatus, the combination as a whole operating substantially as described.

A dampening apparatus which is a combination of a series of cylinders having porous jackets with means for supplying the dampening liquid to them and for regulating the quantity retained by the wet cylinder that is pressed in Contact With the paper substantially as described.

l. A rolling mechanism Which is a combination of a shaft or its equivalent for holding the roll of paperwith a concave friction roller so arranged as to impart motion to the periphery of the roll, and With guides for holding the roll in its proper position against the friction roller substantially as described.

The combination of the following members, Viz: lst an apparatus for support-ing a roll of paper and making tension upon the paper; 2d an equalizing apparatus substantially as described; 3d a dampening apparatus substantially as described; the Whole constituting a machine operating substantially as described for dampening paper from the roll and delivering it in a damp condition.

6. The combination of the following members, Viz: lst an apparatus for supporting la roll of paper and making tension upon it; 2d an equalizing apparatus substantially as described; 3d a dampening apparatus substantially as described; 4th a rolling-mechanism substantially as described; the Whole constituting a machine operating substantially as described for dampening paper from the roll and rerolling it While damp.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto subscribed my name.

ANDRETVV DOUGHERTY.

Witnesses EDWARD E. COOPER, J. R. COOPER. 

